Christian Secularism

Despite constant claims by President Obama that he is a Christian, many Americans continue to believe that he is in fact a Muslim and that his Islamic faith definitely affects his politics regarding the Middle East. Given that large numbers of Americans also believe that Saddam Hussein really did have weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and that Al Qaeda had links to Saddam’s regime, despite the massive and overwhelming evidence to the contrary, it is not really surprising that President Obama’s religious convictions could be so misconstrued by large sections of religiously conservative Americans.

What is unusual, to me anyway is that while the religious right are skeptical of Obama’s motivations in dealing with the Arab nations and the Palestinian question in particular, because of his alleged Islamic faith, they never question the motives of those who dogmatically adhere to the secular humanistic ideology of Zionism. Islam will lead one astray when it comes to issues in the Middle East conflict, or so we are told by John Hagee and the like, but the secular ideology of Zionism seems to keep one on the straight and narrow in Middle Eastern politics. Never once have I heard the religious right in the U.S. critique the dominant ideology in Israel, Zionism. Zionism is the only secular ideology that remains unchallenged in the culture wars of America by the conservatively religious in the U.S. Secular humanism in the U.S. receives a firm rebuke by the religious right if it shows its face in America, but gets a free pass from conservative Christians in the U.S. if it bobs up in the form of Zionism in Israel.

This approval of Zionism by the religious right in the U.S., while vigorously denouncing other secular ideologies that spring up domestically, occurs despite the fact that the Bible contains no mandate that the U.S. must not adhere to the values of secular humanism on punishment of destruction of the American nation by God, but that same Bible does contain a God given mandate that Jews in Israel must follow the Lord God or face expulsion from the land. Zionism’s repudiation of the Torah and its values as being mere myth and legend receives no wrathful rebuke and predictions of doom from conservative pulpits in America.

No members of the religious right in America seem to trouble themselves with the notion that secular ideology might lead the Israeli state into error. Conservative Americans usually hold to the idea that too much welfare robs a person of their dignity, but have no problem with the idea of the U.S. government handing out billions of dollars in aid to Israel despite the fact that Israel is a developed country. Why do the billions in aid that the U.S. gives to Israel not rob the Israelis of their sense of dignity?

Christian Zionists in America never seem to wonder why their Muslim President doesn’t simply end all aid to the Zionist State of Israel, stop the practice of vetoing all United Nations resolutions that upset the Israelis and redirect the billions in aid previously given to Israel into the hands of the Palestinians. Yet their conviction that Obama is a Muslim does not waver. The convictions of those who live in a paranoid universe seldom do.

Disclaimer

I am participating in a program with the United Church of Canada as an Ecumenical Accompanier serving in the World Council of Churches' Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI). The views contained here are personal to me and do not necessarily reflect those of the National Council of Churches Australia or the World Council of Churches. If you would like to publish the information contained here (including posting on a website), or distribute it further, please first contact the EAPPI Communications Officer (eappi.communications@gmail.com) for permission. Thank you.